FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
The modern fish farm Modern fish farming is all about monitoring, control and digitalisation
by OxyGuard International A/S, Denmark
Grieg Seafood is one of the world’s biggest salmon producers and a world leading fish farming company, with an annual production target of 100,000 tonnes gutted weight (in 2020). They were listed on the stock market in 2007 and today the company, all departments included, employs almost 1,000 people. Behind their success is both craftsmanship, dedication, determination… and technology! Running a large modern fish farm is almost impossible without modern technology. This is especially true for land-based RAS facilities. Changes in water quality, a pump that does not work properly, a malfunction in a filter etc. can quickly create a situation that puts the entire stock at risk – in the worst cases causing mass die off. Often these dramatic events could have been prevented with a simple monitoringalarm system.
Grieg Seafood
At Grieg Seafood’s smolt facility on Trosnavåg, Norway, nothing is left to chance. Everything is carefully monitored and the majority of the equipment on the facility is under automatic control. In case of pump failure, water level deviations, oxygen loss etc., they will get a notice within seconds. They use OxyGuard’s Commander Pacific, and they are very happy with the system. The manager, Atle Jøsang explains, “We chose the Commander Pacific system for several reasons. First off, we have a good connection to the technicians at OxyGuard, and we knew that they would provide the service we needed. This is an important thing, especially during the startup of a facility where changes happen all the time. These systems are, to a large extent, tailored to the specific facility and the distance between success and failure lies in the margins.”
Stand alone
OxyGuard’s Commander Pacific is a so-called ‘stand-alone system’. Everything can be controlled and monitored from a central monitor with touch screen. The graphical interface allows the user to get a good overview of the entire farm including conditions in the individual tanks. 44 | August 2020 - International Aquafeed